Wolf Pact

Chapter One: Life in the TARDIS

by Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

AN: By popular demand, the sequel of Wolf Signal.

….

The soft hum of the TARDIS and the low lights against the coral were both mysterious and familiar to Rose as she walked down the corridor. She wasn't sure what had woken her up, but the thought of a cuppa had spurred her out of her very comfortable bed. Stepping into the kitchen Rose shook her head at the dirty dishes piled in the sink from Jenny's first attempt to cook pasta last night and chuckled at the banana peels left on the island from when the Doctor had introduced his daughter to the concept of a banana split.

Chuckling, Rose quickly put a kettle on and pulled out her favourite mug. It was the same one she'd used all those years ago when she'd first been travelling with the Doctor. Large and a pale rose colour it had thin lines of shimmering colour running across the surface, a popular pottery trick on the planet they'd picked it up. She'd missed it from time to time when she'd been living in the other universe though it had never been what she missed most. Rose had been quite surprised to discover the mug safely tucked back in the corner of the cupboard.

Rose made herself busy scrubbing some of the dishes to get the burned on tomato sauce to loosen a bit before she put them into the dishwasher. It wasn't a normal dishwasher, of course not, it was from the 42nd century and the sort which would apparently become a sought out model for at least three hundred years due to its fast and good system. Rose remembered when she'd first looked at the thing and hadn't quite believed the Doctor since it looked like any dishwasher that she'd grown up seeing. Apparently retro would be big for a few years in a couple of centuries. The kettle began to whistle and Rose made herself a steaming cup of tea just how she liked it.

With her tea in hand, Rose walked towards the console room, pausing to glance into Jenny's room. The large domed room was a disaster that reminded Rose a bit of how her old room in the TARDIS looked. For a girl that had never had clothing variety before Jenny had embraced the concept of dressing up quickly much to her father's surprise. A long blue formal dress was hanging over the back of Jenny's desk chair with a pair of pumps peeking out from under the bed. There was a pile of jeans and shirts in one corner by her tall white wardrobe and a trainer collection on a set of shelves. Knick-knacks from different planets were scattered about a pile of well-worn and old looking book were stacked up on Jenny's desk. Even from the hallway, Rose could make out the Gallifreyan symbols in one of the open books and in the open notebook where Jenny was taking notes and practising the script.

Smiling fondly, Rose turned and kept walking to the console room. The Doctor's door was closed, but she could now hear his voice echoing up from the control room. It was answered by a soft feminine laugh that assured Rose they were both awake. She wasn't surprised by that, neither of them needed as much sleep as her. Thankfully they both always gave her the time she needed and having Jenny's company seemed to be keeping the Doctor from doing his old trick of waking her up for adventures. Rose reached the console room, but lingered by the doorway and sipped her tea with a fond smile.

The Doctor and Jenny were moving around the console with Jenny pointing to each of the controls and explaining what it was. Her voice was excited and cheerful with a confidence that she rarely exhibited around her father. The technobabble was lost even on Rose, but she could tell from the glowing look of pride on the Doctor's face that Jenny was doing very well. Every so often he'd stop her and explain something in a little more detail or tell her a story about something going wrong once or twice. Jenny was completely relaxed and the tension that the pair had started with was long gone.

The scene was familiar to Rose. She'd found them like this time and time again in the TARDIS. Sometimes they were in the library with the Doctor telling her about certain works of literature or points of history. He'd all but shoved the complete works of Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, and Harry Potter at her along with a few others from other planets that Rose had never heard of. She'd found them beneath the console with the Doctor teaching Jenny about the systems of the TARDIS. The Doctor hadn't even been angry when Jenny accidentally cracked on the stabilisers and had instead used it was an opportunity to show her how to jury-rig replacements before showing her the fine art of haggling on Fertig IV. One time she'd even come across them in the butterfly room with the Doctor describing Gallifrey in a low pained tone while Jenny held his hand. It was familiar and reassuring and no longer just because it reminded Rose of John and their children. Now it was just Jenny and the Doctor.

She stepped away from the console room and took another sip of her tea. It felt early and maybe she could get a bit more sleep or at least relax a bit more. Rose couldn't quite stop herself from wondering how her family was doing in the other world. Tony had still been healthy when she'd died and woke up young and back in her own universe. His son was a good sort and had long since taken over the family's public business while her niece had been more inclined towards Torchwood. Her own children had been settled into happy and fulfilling lives that allowed them to use their great intelligences. She didn't have any reason to worry, but sometimes…. Rose shook her head as she entered the room and took another sip of her tea. Picking up her mobile, Rose quickly typed in a number and raised the phone to her ear and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hi Martha," Rose greeted in a soft voice. "Is this a good time?"

"Yeah it's fine," Martha assured her warmly on the other end. "I'm just making up some spaghetti for us."

Rose couldn't help but laugh though she rushed to explain herself to Martha, "Sorry it's just that Jenny tried to destroy the TARDIS kitchen last night making pasta. The TARDIS actually cut power to keep her at bay."

"Wait so little Miss Time Lady is a klutz in the kitchen?" Martha asked sounding far too amused. "Well so much for all that talk about being superior."

"Reassuring to know they don't know everything isn't it."

"Sometimes," Martha agreed with a chuckle before she was drowned out by a loud cheer through the phone. Rose laughed, recognising the source of the cheer.

"Is there a match on?" she asked and Martha laughed.

"Yeah, there's a match on," Martha agreed before sighing. "Was he this bad with you?"

"Let me put it this way: the day I met the Doctor the day he blew up my job with me barely out of the building Mickey came to see me and wanted to take me to the pub for a comfort drink."

"Oh my god he didn't!"

"He did, which I called him on of course," Rose promised Martha with a laugh. "Course he's grown up a lot since then."

"Grown-up nicely," Martha said happily making Rose's smile widen.

"I'm so happy you two are together," Rose sighed into the phone as she sat back down on her bed and placed the cuppa on the side table. "It's just so sweet."

"Surprised me a bit at first, I've told you about Tom, but in the end… well, the secrets… it was just too much. My mum might have liked the idea of me and Tom, but I'll never forget the first time she realised that there were no secrets between Mickey and I and that she could talk about that year with him."

"I understand," Rose assured Martha sympathetically. "It was one reason I had such hard time adjusting to the other universe at first, I had Mickey and my mum, but everything else was a lie. We had to create this whole history for me and I had to constantly worry about saying the wrong thing."

"Sounds difficult," Martha observed. "And now?"

"Now… things are still a bit weird at times, but almost every day is better than the last. He's doing a lot better about listening to my suggestions and remembering that I've got experience of my own."

"Thank god, I don't think we would have survived another fight like the last one."

"Yeah… I'm still sorry about you getting sucked into that."

"We're friends and he was being childish," Martha replied nonchalantly. "I don't mind being someone you call on from time to time. Oh, by the way, Sarah Jane made me promise to give you her love next time you called. She still wants to meet Jenny, in fact, she's all but demanding it."

"I'll bring it up with the Doctor, but I think he's a little afraid of what that meeting will look like."

"Sarah Jane is lovely," Martha protested.

"Yes she is and I think she'd be a wonderful role model for Jenny, but she has a lot of blackmail stories on the Doctor. He's probably concerned about being undermined."

Martha laughed in agreement. "Fair point, that's probably exactly what he's worried about. Still, she wants to see you again and wasn't happy to find out from me that you're back in this universe. Plus you really should meet her son. Luke's a good kid and so sweet."

"Who is my best girl talking to?" Mickey asked loud enough for Rose to hear him.

"Your second best girl," Martha answered him loudly with a laugh. "I've got to drain the noodles, say hi Mickey."

Rose waited while the phone was passed between the two and smiled when Mickey's voice came over the line, "Hey Rose, how is life in the blue box?"

"It's fine, we stopped a plot to destroy this little planet by a trading company and Jenny massively failed at cooking pasta."

"Cooking pasta?" Mickey repeated in shock. "How can someone fail at pasta?"

"I'm not sure, but it was funny. I promised her that next time I cook she can watch me and I'll walk her through the steps."

"Jenny did take care of herself for months, right? I'm not misremembering that," Mickey said with obvious confusion. "Pretty sure I remember her recounting her own various adventures over a least a few months."

"You're not, but her old ship had those weird nutrition bar things. You know the ones that you just program in and you get something like a cereal bar. Supposed to have all the nutrition you need."

"The ones that Big Ears used to eat?" Mickey teased causing Rose to roll her eyes.

"Yeah those, he stopped mostly when I came aboard."

They settled into a moment of comfortable silence and Rose listened to the sounds of Martha setting the table. Then Mickey started to talk a bit about the latest alien thing they'd investigated together in Bristol. Rose listened with a small smile to the sound of her friend's voice, feeling her body relax until Mickey changed the subject.

"So how are you and the Doctor?" Mickey asked gently. "Last time we saw you three things were a little tense still."

"It's only been six months to us Mickey and this… this is going to take some time. It's getting easier not to see John or expect the Doctor to act like he did so I consider that a victory. I feel like I've gotten through my mourning period now, it's easier to just be happy with the adventures again. Jenny is a darling and she's being really good about letting us have our space to work through things."

"That's good to hear. Martha and I both worry you know," Mickey replied. "Look, Rose, I'm sorry, but I've got to go-"

"Dinner's ready, no problem Mickey," Rose said quickly. "Talk to you soon, take care. Love you both. Say hi to Jack for me."

"Take care!" Martha called from the other line before the phone call ended.

Sighing, Rose climbed back under the duvet and took one more sip of her tea before she pushed the mug away from the bed. Rose turned out the light and stretched out on the bed again. There was a lingering exhaustion in her body from their last adventure that had yet to go away and Rose couldn't help but feel on edge. Over her years as a Torchwood agent, she'd grown used to trusting her gut and tonight something didn't feel right.

She opened her eyes and rolled over, away from the door. Across the room was the set of shelves that she kept mementoes on, much like the one she'd had in her first room. One shelf had a series of photos of her family, both of her mum and her when shew as younger in this universe compliments of the Doctor and Mickey. But the most precious ones were the small paintings of her late husband and children created using visual memory technology and a skilled artist.

Staring at the picture of John and her three children, Rose felt a few tears prickling at her eyes. Grief swelled in her chest for a moment but passed quickly as she breathed out slowly. Rose sighed softly and laid her head back down. Staring at the pictures, Rose let herself think back to many of the special moments that had defined her life in the other universe while listening to the distance sounds of Jenny and the Doctors.

Sometimes it still hurt a little, but the pain was bittersweet. Over the last few months, the shock of finding herself back in her home universe had gradually worn off. What frightened her most was how easier it was to forget sometimes that she'd had a whole other life. Sometimes it was too easy to slip back into the skin of twenty-year-old Rose Tyler who loved the Doctor completely and raced around the universe with him. Rose chuckled to herself, no it wasn't exactly the same now. She knew the Doctor loved her, he knew that she loved him which had always been unspoken before. And she couldn't quite imagine her younger self-being fully comfortable with Jenny's presence on board. Jenny wanted a mother and back then she wouldn't have been able to give that to her. Strange as it was, things had worked out. Rose closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, wondering if maybe it was time to let things move forward with the Doctor again.